Lewis Guy keeps Doncaster Rovers on fire

Doncaster Rovers (0) 1 Cardiff City (0) 1

The scoreline at the Keepmoat Stadium on Saturday mirrored the result of the last game hosted at this level by Doncaster 50 years ago.

That draw with Ipswich Town on April 26, 1958 sparked a decline that, by 1998, had sent Doncaster slithering into the Conference and almost out of existence.

On the evidence of this performance against last season's FA Cup finalists, however, the prospects of a Rovers' return to those dark days are remote.

Sean O'Driscoll's vibrant young side, promoted via the play-offs, followed up their opening day victory at Derby with a convincing performance against one of the fancied contenders for a place in the Premier League next season.

Playing an inventive passing game, they deservedly took the lead in the 67th minute with a skilfully-taken goal by Lewis Guy, ironically from one of the few occasions when route one was adopted with a long ball from Matt Mills.

It was Guy's second of the season and Doncaster looked in control thereafter, only to be denied by a defensive mix-up two minutes from the end of normal time.

There seemed little danger when Mark Kennedy hoisted a left-wing cross into the penalty more in hope than expectation. But Neil Sullivan, who had produced the save of the match in the 24th minute to deny Richard Johnson, lost possession after colliding with substitute Adam Lockwood.

The ball bounced invitingly into the path of Ross McCormack, Cardiff's summer signing from Motherwell who had a loan spell at Doncaster two years ago, and he netted from close range.

O'Driscoll declined to apportion blame, preferring to point out that his side had "upped their game a notch" against one of the best passing sides in the division.

And while Cardiff manager Dave Jones' assertion that a draw was a fair result was about right, he will be looking for his side to sharpen up sooner rather than later.

However, with several key players easing their way back to match fitness after injury and money to spend from the £2.5m transfer of defender Glenn Loovens to Celtic, that seems a reasonable prospect.